


Here Forever

by potentiality_26



Category: Kingsman: The Secret Service (2015)
Genre: Canon-Typical Violence, Established Relationship, M/M, Originally Posted on Tumblr, Post-Canon
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-17
Updated: 2017-07-17
Packaged: 2018-12-03 12:09:38
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,447
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11531925
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/potentiality_26/pseuds/potentiality_26
Summary: “I thought you were dead.”  Eggsy’s voice was shaky but strong; the words, though, brought Harry up short.  Eggsy had said that to him once before.When Harry came back from Kentucky, he was well enough to walk into HQ under his own power, and news of his survival had preceded him. Eggsy had said it carelessly, then, with an almost giddy light in his eyes.  As if thinking Harry died when he was shot in the head was a personal failing on his part, one to be laughed at now.Close calls and revelations.





	Here Forever

**Author's Note:**

> For the tumblr prompt: "I thought you were dead." Title (again) from "Stay Alive" by José González. It's a good song, okay?
> 
> Not Brit-picked.

Harry hid underneath the outdoor stairway, his head low as a pair of guards made a circuit above him.  They weren’t being careful; Harry could have taken them out easily, but there was little point when he had no idea what was happening inside the building he had just been- literally- thrown out of.  He knew they had Eggsy, and he _wanted_ to go in guns blazing- but he wouldn’t do Eggsy any good if he got himself killed for real that way.  

Once the guards were gone, Harry checked in.

“Ha- Galahad,” Merlin said, the stutter a sure sign that he had been genuinely worried.  “I couldn’t reach you.”

“I was thrown off a building.”  Harry got lucky- again.  Blown up, shot in the head, and now- his first time back in the field since he recuperated- _this_. 

He was going to get a reputation.

“What do you know about what’s happening in there?” he asked.

“Too little.  They took Eggsy’s glasses.”  Unlikely that their enemies knew what the glasses really did, or Merlin would’ve heard something more before now. Probably they had taken Eggsy’s glasses off because they had other plans for his face.

Harry felt white-hot rage sear through him.  He gritted his teeth.  “How many people were inside at Eggsy’s last count?”

“I saw only six,” Merlin said, “including their leader.  But, Galahad, you should know-”

“What?”

“He didn’t count.”

Harry blinked.  If Eggsy knew they would take his glasses, he might’ve concluded that there was no reason to keep Merlin informed.  He might also have- “You don’t think he was planning an escape?”

“I’m not sure he was planning anything.”

Merlin’s implication had little time to sink in before Harry heard gunfire from inside.  He grinned fiercely. “Perhaps you’d better think again.”  As long as Eggsy had the strength to do _something_ , Harry could work with it.  He abandoned caution and got moving.  “Try to hail him.”  Even without the glasses, some communication was usually possible.

“You know I don’t like to distract agents during a firefight.”

“In this case you should risk it.”

“Why?”

“To tell him I’m not dead, for one thing.”   Harry ducked a shot from the guard a flight or two above him and returned fire.  “I’d rather he didn’t shoot me by accident.”

Merlin didn’t manage to make contact- but Eggsy didn’t shoot Harry either.  Harry opened a door that led to a two-level storeroom, full of convenient cover in the form of barrels and crates, and discovered that Eggsy had positioned himself on the upper level.  He had superior skills and the high ground, so it was really just a matter of time.  Harry crouched behind a barrel and watched his back, taking out anyone trying to flank him in any direction.

It was over quickly, in the end, but it didn’t feel quick when Harry couldn’t tell whether Eggsy knew who his helper was until the fighting was over.  

“Harry?” Eggsy shouted as soon as it was.

Harry took a breath and called back, “Eggsy.”

“I thought you were dead.”  Eggsy’s voice was shaky but strong; the words, though, brought Harry up short.  Eggsy had said that to him once before.

When Harry came back from Kentucky, he was well enough to walk into HQ under his own power, and news of his survival had preceded him. Eggsy had said it carelessly, then, with an almost giddy light in his eyes.  As if thinking Harry died when he was shot in the head was a personal failing on his part, one to be laughed at now.  He was still grinning when he said _I been wanting to-_ and caught Harry’s face in both hands, kissing him.  Harry had had to stay very still to keep from falling over.  To know Eggsy had felt that way for him- the way Harry himself incidentally felt about Eggsy- and to imagine believing as Eggsy must have that he could never do anything about it shook him to the core.  Eggsy mistook Harry’s stillness for rejection and his face fell, but Harry didn’t let him doubt for long.  He kissed Eggsy back, and then some things no longer needed saying.  Some things, Harry thought, still didn’t.

Suddenly, Harry wasn’t so sure about that.  But before he could speak, Eggsy said, “Uh.  Harry.  We better run.”

“You set explosives, didn’t you?”

“Yeah.”

And Merlin accused Harry of overkill.  He dashed out of that storeroom and lingered on the stairs only long enough for Eggsy to catch up with him. 

They reached the ground and were still running when the building exploded. Harry voiced his thought about overkill; he had to shout it to be heard over the roar. 

“Those people were dangerous,” Eggsy shouted back. “I wasn’t leaving nothing to chance.”

“You certainly didn’t do that,” Harry said, glancing over his shoulder at the cinders that remained.  But why, then, had Eggsy stayed to fight?

Harry didn’t ask, and Eggsy didn’t answer- or, at least, Harry didn’t expect him to.  But then he repeated, “I thought you were dead.”  He staggered a little, as if the strength had abruptly gone out of him.  

Harry caught him by the jacket lapels, holding him up and looking him over at once.  He had been punched, probably more than once, and there were bullets- too many of them- still clinging where they had impacted his suit.  He wasn’t seriously hurt, but he could have been. 

Suddenly, Harry remembered: _I’m not sure he was planning anything._

Before Harry came back- while he was too comatose to give Merlin his position and Kingsman was too run ragged to look for his body- Eggsy had been in the field almost constantly.  Harry had seen a lot of footage from those days, and now all of it- from Valentine’s bunker onward- replayed in his mind to a counterpoint of _I thought you were dead_.

Harry kept his voice soft, though he still felt like shouting.  “Were you trying to- were you-” he couldn’t finish.  

Comprehension, then sorrow and what looked like embarrassment chased each other across Eggsy’s face.  “Wasn’t _trying_ to get myself killed.” 

Harry nearly sighed with relief.  He knew Eggsy didn’t want to lose him again any more than he would want to lose Eggsy- but if Eggsy could just give up like that, because of him... Harry couldn’t imagine it. 

“I was just angry, and so _alone_.  And...” Eggsy couldn’t seem to find the words he needed. 

Perhaps he didn’t have to.  In the days before Harry returned, Eggsy had operated as though he had no security system- as if no one was coming for him, as if he lived or died on his own. 

And Harry remembered how Eggsy was in the trials.  Merlin had made headway, but the fact that he had to create a new codename for Eggsy probably hadn’t entirely dispensed with Eggsy’s belief that he was now not the expendable candidate, but the expendable agent.  Harry had done his utmost to combat that in turn, as had Lancelot and Percival-now-Arthur, and he had thought- or at least hoped- that they were past it.

But perhaps tonight Eggsy had thought to avenge Harry- and thought that without him he was truly alone, that if Harry couldn’t be there for him no one could. 

Harry lifted his hands to Eggsy’s face and kissed him hard. Eggsy had a split lip and it probably hurt, but he didn’t fight.  No, he melted.   “I love you,” Harry said, after.  “I will always come back for you if I can.  I’ve managed it so far, haven’t I?”

Eggsy nodded.

“And you will _never_ be alone.” 

Harry stayed close, but he took off his glasses and pushed them onto Eggsy’s face so Merlin- who had kept silent thus far- could talk to him.  Merlin had worried, Harry could see now, that in losing Harry he might lose both of them, which was the last thing he deserved- and when he worried, he scolded.  Harry knew he tried not to with Eggsy, because Eggsy didn’t hear the fondness in being yelled at that Harry did, but this time… this time he might.

Sure enough, a slow smile appeared on Eggsy’s face.  His eyes shone.  After a while he met Harry’s gaze and mouthed _love you too_.   

Harry squeezed the back of Eggsy’s neck.  As if there had been any doubt. 

They had probably not seen the last of this side of Eggsy, but Harry fully intended to be there the day they did- and many, many days after that.  Eggsy was pretty well stuck with him.   

He smiled, and they walked away from that building.  Together.

**Author's Note:**

> Come see me on [tumblr](http://potentiality-26.tumblr.com/).


End file.
